Blessed Sacrament Father Thomas J. McKeon, a priest son of Saint Jean Baptiste Parish, passed away late Thursday night, May 15, in the Medical Intensive Care Unit of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York City, where had been taken the previous night for treatment of acute respiratory distress.

Family members and religious of the Blessed Sacrament Community at Saint Jean's maintained a vigil at his bedside throughout the hours of his hospitalization.

Father McKeon was assigned to various communities of the United States Province of Saint Ann during his 58 years as a priest, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah; and, most recently, Saint Jean Baptiste.  He also ministered in the Philippines and Ireland.  He was compassionate and dedicated, and had a wonderful sense of humor.

The funeral arrangements are as follows:

     Parish Wake: Sunday, May 18, 4:00-8:00 p.m., Parish House
     The family will receive visitors on Monday, May 19, 2:00-4:00 and 7:00-9:00 p.m., Parish House

     Mass of Christian Burial: Tuesday, May 20, 11:00 a.m., Saint Jean Baptiste Church

     Interment: Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, Queens

 

Death, a Pascal Event
Comforted by the prayer of the community
and by the Eucharist received as viaticum,
our brothers will then be ready to die in the Lord.

The death of a brother
shall be celebrated as a paschal event,
in a prayer filled with hope. . . .

Filled with hope, we journey on
toward that new world
where God will be all in all.

Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, Rule of Life, 13, 26